THE DAILY each Friday offers our take on the performances over the past week of people and entities in sports business. Here are this week's newsmakers:
WIN: CHUBBY CHANDLER -- It’s hard to imagine this year going any better for International Sports Management’s head honcho. After two of his clients -- LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN and RORY MCILROY -- captured The Masters and U.S. Open, DARREN CLARKE stuns the golf world to make it three-for-three at the British Open. There’s no doubt Chandler finds himself with the right clients at the right time, but perhaps more notable is his innovative approach to marketing. Thanks to an unusual contract between Clarke and shirt sponsor Dunlop, the Northern Ireland golfer lands a $3M-plus bonus in addition to etching his name on the Claret Jug.
LOSE: TROPICANA FIELD -- As long as the Rays keep winning and landing on national TV, the Trop will be a black mark for baseball and the Tampa Bay region. Bizarre issues at Tropicana Field overshadowed consecutive nationally televised games this week, leading Rays manager JOE MADDON to call the aging dome an “improper” venue for MLB. Furthermore, team President ANDREW SILVERMAN voices his frustration with the lack of progress on a new ballpark, just days after Owner STU STERNBERG vents about dragging home attendance. The Rays perennially are one of the great stories in baseball; if only we could say the same about their home.
DRAW: U.S. WOMEN'S NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM -- Americans jumped on the bandwagon for the U.S. run at the FIFA Women's World Cup, with last Sunday's final marking ESPN's highest-rated and most-viewed soccer telecast ever. And while the squad got people talking at home, the heartwrenching loss to Japan puts a damper on what could have been a marketing windfall for the team. Players still made the media rounds this week and inflated some WPS crowds -- ABBY WAMBACH, HOPE SOLO and ALEX MORGAN even landed deals with Bank of America -- but a victory would have been a big lift for a sport that has a history of trouble sustaining relevance with the American public.
